WORSHIP LEADERS
10 RULES TO MAKE EVERY SUNDAY EXCEPTIONAL | Jon Nicol
" When you lead worship , don ' t shoot for a home run … just get a base hit every week ." ~ Rick Muchow , founding worship pastor , Saddleback Church 1
I heard this quote on one of David Santistevan ' s earliest podcasts where he interviewed Rick .
When I heard it , I realized Rick had described the path of my ministry . For too many years , I swung for the fences every Sunday …
• Scheduled a full band at all costs .
• Ran long rehearsals .
• Planned only the latest and greatest songs .
• Cajoled the congregation to get a response .
• Allowed the quality of Sunday to determine my worth .
All the while , my family , church , and team paid the price . It wasn ' t too great for my emotional and spiritual health either . Over time , I shifted my mindset about Sunday excellence to a more sustainable pace - what Muchow described as a base hit .
And they don ' t make the highlight reels like home runs do . But I ' ve heard my son ' s baseball coach say it over and over , " Base hits win ball games ."
Rick ' s analogy is brilliantly simple . A string of solid Sundays over and over will advance a church and worship team forward over time .
Imagine what will grow a church of worshipers more ...
The infrequent-to-rare ' home run ' service with the perfect combination of the right songs , the right musicians , and a congregation that ' s in the mood to worship .
Or , the ' base hit ' service - a weekly worship gathering that ' s Biblically-grounded , musically solid , and has engaging leadership .
People describe the ' home run ' service as transcendent ... anointed ... moving ... or aweinspiring . But unfortunately , that ’ s what people start to expect . The ‘ home run ’ service unfairly becomes the unattainable standard for future Sundays . consistently exceptional . So how do you build a worship ministry that makes every Sunday exceptional ?
Before I answer that , I ' ll acknowledge the linguistic elephant in the room : If every Sunday is exceptional , then no Sunday is exceptional , right ? It ' s like Garrison Keillor ' s description of the town of Lake Wobegon … " all the children are above average ."
I ' ll come back to that grammatical faux pas later because it ' s actually part of the process to lead consistently excellent Sundays . So let ' s get into my Ten Rules to Make Every Sunday Exceptional .
RULE # 1 : ROTATE FEWER SONGS MORE OFTEN Too many churches rotate too many songs . And don ' t get me started on worship leaders who dump new tunes on their congregation weekly .
If the goal is corporate ( shared and together ) worship , we need to plan songs that our people know . We want them singing from the heart , not the screen .
If you aren ' t familiar with baseball , the home run is when one batter scores with one hit — typically hitting over the fence .
Home runs are exhilarating . They can turn the tide of a game . But they ' re rare compared to the number of strikeouts , walks , and singles over an entire season .
A base hit is fantastic , but there ' s no score . That is , not until you advance a runner to home .
The ' base hit ' service won ' t initiate a rush of people to the platform afterward to tell you how " amazing worship was today !" But for the longterm spiritual formation of your church ( and to quote The Mandalorian ), this is the way .
It also won ' t kill you trying to chase the unrealistic standards of a grand slam service .
And what ' s really critical here is this : you can actually get to a point where every service is
If you want help with this , I was a big enough nerd to write a book about song rotation and management . You can find The SongCycle : Simplify Your Worship Planning and Re-Engage Your Church on Amazon .
RULE # 2 : MAP A JOURNEY VERSUS PLAN A SET People don ' t want to stand and sing songs . They want to be led on a journey . They want an experience that helps them move closer to God .
1 Rick was a passionate and gifted worship leader and coach who tragically passed away from a brain tumor in May 2021 . His influence on modern worship can ’ t be overstated .